Source:CraftsmanSource type: magazineDocument type: articleDocument title: “Memorials to McKinley: Monuments That Have Been,
and Are to Be, Erected in Honor of the Slain President”Author(s): anonymousDate of publication: October 1905Volume number: 9Issue number: nonePagination: 23-35

“Death Mask of President M’Kinley in the National Museum, Washington.”
(p. 31)

“A. Phimister Proctor at Work on Lions for M’Kinley Monument at Buffalo.”
(p. 31)

“M’Kinley Monument to Be Placed in Buffalo, Designed by Carrere &
Hastings, New York.” (p. 32)

No text appears on pages 25-32 of this article.

Document

Memorials to McKinley: Monuments That Have Been,
and Are to Be,
Erected in Honor of the Slain President

FOUR years ago on the fourteenth day of September William McKinley
died. In those four years more monuments have been erected to his
memory and more money appropriated for further memorials than for
any other man within a like space of time in the history of this
country, or of the world. Within a year after his death nearly a
million of dollars had been set aside for monuments that should
tell, in the undying language of bronze and stone, something of
the love and honor in which this man was held by his countrymen.
When the assassin’s shot rang round
the world on the sixth day of September, 1901, it struck the hearts
of millions not only with the awe and horror of a dastard deed,
but with the hurt of a personal sorrow. No President of the United
States had ever won in his lifetime a more deep and general regard
from the people, and in that dark hour this hero of millions rose
to his fullest height. Then and to the end the nobility of his nature
shone forth like the light of a star, which, though swept from the
zenith into eternal space, can never be wholly effaced from the
mental vision.Perhaps no one has so well measured in words
the attributes which endeared this man to the many, as a member
of the McKinley cabinet, in delivering a eulogy on his dead chief:
“Would you know his generosity? Recall his words as he looked upon
the miscreant, ‘Let no one hurt him.’ Would you understand his thoughtful
chivalry? Remark his immediate admonition, ‘Do not let them alarm
my wife.’ Would you appreciate his considerate courtesy? Turn to
his fine sense, ‘I am sorry the Exposition has been shadowed.’ Would
you measure his moral grandeur? Dwell upon that final utterance
of sublime submission, ‘It is God’s way; His will, not ours, be
done.’”
And so it was not surprising that
by a common impulse the people of every state from coast to coast,
from Canada line to the Gulf, sought in the one way possible to
do him honor. Never before has the raising of a great fund been
so spontaneous. Subscriptions were not urged. The money was not
begged. It poured in from every side, from village and metropolis,
by pennies from school children, by hard earned dimes and dollars
of working men, by larger but never extravagant or ostentatious
gifts of men and women of means. [23][24]
Within a week after the President’s
death Toledo had raised fifteen thousand dollars for a memorial,
and on the first anniversary of his death the first monument erected
by the people of a city was unveiled before a vast concourse of
citizens such as had gathered at the same spot on the day of the
funeral and in tearful silence paid a city’s tribute to the man
whom thousands in Toledo had called friend. This monument is a portrait
in bronze, mounted on a granite base, and stands directly in front
of the Court House. In the granite base was deposited a great roll,
nearly a quarter of a mile long, containing the names of the twenty-six
thousand people who contributed to the monument fund. The statue
is the work of Albert Weinert of New York, and represents McKinley
in the act of making an address, and at the moment when he had paused
to let a burst of applause subside. Mr. Weinert had had some personal
acquaintance with the President, which aided him in his work, and
the further advantage of various photographs of the death mask which
is in the National Museum at Washington and which he secured by
special favor. An address made by Senator Hanna at the unveiling
of this memorial to his friend was one of his last public speeches.
Six months prior to the unveiling
of the Toledo monument a life-size statue of President McKinley
was erected at Muskegon, Michigan. This was the gift of a public-spirited
citizen of Muskegon, who commissioned Charles Henry Niehaus to execute
what was to prove one of the last of his many gifts to the city.
The donor’s death occurred soon afterward. This memorial is in the
form of an exedra, in the centre of which rises the figure in bronze.
Mr. Niehaus, too, had met the President, had felt his personal magnetism
and the strength of that quiet, kindly nature, more persuasive than
forceful with its subtly insistent power. He was aided also in his
work by photographs which he had had taken while executing a bust
of the President before his death. These photographs were particularly
helpful to the artist because the character lines had not been retouched,
but for this very reason Mrs. McKinley had the plates destroyed
after the one set of prints was made.
Closely following the unveiling of
the Toledo monument was that of a memorial at Adams, Massachusetts,
also a portrait in bronze, though of heroic size, and executed by
Augustus Lukeman. The [24][33] fund
for this memorial was started immediately after the death of the
President, who three times had been an honored guest of the town,—first,
when as Governor of Ohio he dedicated the second Berkshire mill
to the principles of protection and prosperity; second, when as
President he laid the corner stone of the Memorial Public Library,
before which the statue stands; and when again as President he returned
to lay the corner stone of Berkshire mill No. 4. The contributions
were largely from mill operatives, from school children, and the
congregations of churches of various denominations, constituting
a tribute from people in whom the President had shown a particular
and personal interest. The statue stands eight feet high, the figure
in a characteristic pose of the President while delivering an address,
with left arm uplifted and head slightly thrown back, the right
hand resting on a standard enveloped in the flag. The granite pedestal
bears on each of its four sides a granite tablet in relief, one
showing McKinley addressing the House of Representatives on the
tariff bill, another as commissary sergeant at the Battle of Antietam,
the third representing him delivering his first inaugural address,
and the fourth bearing these words taken from his last speech at
Buffalo: “Let us remember that our interest is in Concord, not Conflict,
and that our real eminence is in the Victories of Peace, not those
of War.”
Other memorials already erected are
at San José and San Francisco, California, the former a gift of
the sculptor, Rupert Schmid, to the town; the latter being a figure
of Columbia in marble, the work of Robert I. Aitken. In McKinley
Park, Chicago, stands another, the gift of a well known citizen
of Chicago, a lover of great men and a particular admirer of Mr.
McKinley. This memorial was dedicated to the workingmen of Chicago.
It is in the form of a semicircular exedra in granite, the figure
of bronze being the work of Charles Mulligan of Chicago. The sculptor’s
idea was to express the interest McKinley always felt for the people
and particularly as indicated at the moment he arose to present
to Congress the tariff bill that bears his name. The monument most
recently unveiled is that erected by popular subscription at Springfield,
Massachusetts. This one is the work of Philip Martiny and shows
a beautifully modeled female figure representing Fame reaching forth
a palm leaf toward the bust of McKinley surmounting the pedestal.
In a half dozen other sculptors’ studios
in New York and else- [33][34] where
stand models more or less finished for still other memorials. H.
A. MacNeil has just completed the model of the portrait for a monument
to be erected at Columbus, Ohio, at a cost of fifty thousand dollars,
and is now at work on models for two groups which will be executed
in bronze and adorn opposite ends of an exedra, from the centre
of which will rise the heroic portrait, also in bronze. The two
groups represent the general fundamental elements in the prosperity
of the country. One is Peace, as represented by a female figure
placing the palm over the sword and accoutrements of war, while
a little girl at her side is weaving a festoon of flowers. The other
shows a very robust workman with tools in his hand, and at his side
a young boy holding a scroll on which he and the man are working
out a mechanical problem. The State of Ohio appropriated one-half
the sum for this memorial, the remaining half being divided between
the municipal government and the citizens of Columbus.
Philadelphia’s tribute to this universally
beloved man will be in the form of a heroic bronze, mounted on a
granite pedestal, at the front of which, placed so as not to detract
from the main figure, is a group embodying the idea of pro patria,—a
mother figure instructing a child in the principles of patriotism,
pointing to the figure above as an example.
In commemoration of the saddest event
in the history of Buffalo there will one day stand there a memorial
to be erected at a cost of one hundred thousand dollars, the funds
for the monument having been appropriated by the State of New York,
the site being given by the city. This will be an architectural
monument, designed by Carrere & Hastings of New York. It is an obelisk
of Vermont marble with a series of broad approaches. At the four
corners of the base of the shaft rest four lions in heroic size,
also of Vermont marble. These lions are the work of A. Phimister
Proctor, one of the foremost of American animal sculptors. Mr. Proctor
has already devoted more than a year to this work, it being necessary
to make two models in reverse positions. The second model is now
almost completed, but the completion of the monument will require
at least another year.
Quite naturally the most elaborate
and costly memorial is the one to be erected at Canton, the home
of McKinley in the days of his struggling young manhood and in the
days when he had achieved that which to him seemed most worth striving
for. This memorial is more [34][35]
than local in character. It is national and subscriptions to the
fund have reached nearly six hundred thousand dollars, coming from
every nook and cranny of the United States. The entire amount necessary
for the building of the memorial is already in hand, but an additional
hundred thousand dollars is to be raised as an endowment fund, the
interest from which will defray all expenses and provide for the
maintenance of the property, in this way avoiding the necessity
of charging an admittance fee to people visiting the tomb. Although
the plans on which architects have been working for two years are
not yet finally approved, work at the monument site has already
begun and it is expected that it will be finished in two years from
this time. The memorial will be seventy-five feet in diameter, one
hundred feet in height, built of pink granite with a marble interior.
It is to be severely plain in character and will stand on an eminence
known as Monument Hill, itself seventy-five feet above the surrounding
level. It is quite likely that a sculptured portrait of McKinley
will have a part in the plan, and that this will be the work of
Saint Gaudens.
As succeeding years give perspective
to the life of this man, other generations will rise to do him honor,
but it comes to the few to be meted such prompt recognition as this.
No other man in public life in this country has had so much evidence
while he lived of the affection of his countrymen, nor at his death
such a universal and eager impulse to show him honor.